Cihangir is a neighborhood in the
Beyoğlu
Beyoğlu (, ota, بكاوغلی, script=Arab) is a district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Golden Horn. It was known as the region of Pera (Πέρα, meani ...
district of
Istanbul,
Turkey, between
Taksim Square and
Kabataş.
It has many narrow streets, two parks, and many street cafes especially in and around Akarsu Yokuşu Sokağı.
The neighbourhood has a
bohemian reputation.
It is known for its artists, writers, actors, and expatriates - as well as large army of street cats. It was also a stronghold for protesters during the
Gezi Park protests.
Cihangir was named after
Şehzade Cihangir whose heart-broken father,
Suleiman the Magnificent, had
Mimar Sinan build a mosque overlooking the Bosphorus to commemorate his death. The name means "conqueror" in Turkish and, in turn, comes from the Persian compound word ''jahan'' + ''gir'' (جهانگیر), meaning "conqueror of the world". Today, the Cihangir Mosque, originally built in 1559 but reconstructed in 1889, offers views across the
Bosphorus
The Bosporus Strait (; grc, Βόσπορος ; tr, İstanbul Boğazı 'Istanbul strait', colloquially ''Boğaz'') or Bosphorus Strait is a natural strait and an internationally significant waterway located in Istanbul in northwestern Tu ...
to
Sarayburnu.
In 2012, the British newspaper ''
The Guardian'' included Cihangir and neighbouring
Çukurcuma in the list of the five best places in the world to live, next to
Santa Cruz de Tenerife
Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its admi ...
, in
Spain; the district of
Sankt Pauli, in
Hamburg, the north coast of
Maui
The island of Maui (; Hawaiian: ) is the second-largest of the islands of the state of Hawaii at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2) and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is the largest of Maui County's four islands, which ...
, in
Hawaii and
Portland, in the state of
Oregon (
United States).
Ece Temelkuran wrote that this neighbourhood is like
Soho, Manhattan
SoHo, sometimes written Soho (South of Houston Street), is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, and has also been known for its variet ...
.
Demographics
History
During
Byzantine times, the area of the present neighborhood was probably not settled, although there were Byzantine buildings near present-day
Tophane and
Fındıklı below Cihangir.
During the reign of
Suleiman the Magnificent, the area was a forested hunting ground. It was one of the favourite places of Suleiman's son
Cihangir after whom it is named.
In the second half of the 19th century, the increasing influx of non-Ottoman Europeans into Istanbul drove up real estate prices in the nearby Pera district in
Beyoğlu
Beyoğlu (, ota, بكاوغلی, script=Arab) is a district on the European side of İstanbul, Turkey, separated from the old city (historic peninsula of Constantinople) by the Golden Horn. It was known as the region of Pera (Πέρα, meani ...
, to which they were officially confined. Some Europeans, however, acquired land in areas outside Pera such as Tophane, Fındıklı, and Cihangir, leading to a great deal of upmarket residential development in those neighbourhoods.
Starting in the 1930s, non-Muslim residents of Cihangir and the rest of Beyoğlu left or were forced out. They were replaced by Muslims from other Istanbul neighbourhoods and by internal migrants from eastern Turkey. As the character of the neighbourhood changed, middle-class Muslims also began leaving it. By the 1970s, Cihangir was known as an area where Anatolian migrants lived alongside artists and intellectuals. Steady gentrification pushed up house prices in the area during the 2010s but after the inconveniences inflicted on local residents by the troubles around the
Gezi Park protests of 2013, there was something of an exodus from the area. In particular, younger more bohemian people started to move across the Bosphorus to
Kadıköy. Since 2020, however, the exodus has gone into reverse and house prices were once again soaring by 2021.
In the early twenty-first century, Cihangir became well-known for its cafes, artists, and bohemian culture.
In addition, the neighborhood is known for its street cats, and local residents help feed and take care of the cats. The documentary
Kedi, which profiles street cats, was largely filmed in Cihangir. The neighborhood is used as a nickname to designate upper class leftists called "Cihangir leftist" (Turkish: ''Cihangir solcusu''),
or the Turkish version of the term "
champagne socialist".
References
; Printed Sources
*
* http://www.thesis.bilkent.edu.tr/0002485.pdf
*
*
External links
Images of CihangirMap of Cihangir neighborhood
Neighbourhoods of Beyoğlu
{{Istanbul-geo-stub